NOTE: This situation is fluid. As I get ready to post this, a lawsuit challenging the vote count in Georgia was thrown out by a Georgia Superior Court judge. By the time you read the post, who knows?

I’m no legal expert, but it appears to me the Supreme Court decisions released prior to the election mean that the court will not revisit the issue in my home state of NC, where ballots must be mailed by election date but extended time to receive and count is provided as the result of an agreement by the state Board of Elections over an earlier suit. (Ballots already had three extra days to show up; the agreement simply extended it.) The BoE had extended the deadline in earlier years when the state experienced severe hurricanes that impacted both residents and mail service, so there was a historical precedent.

The situation in Pennsylvania is less clear but it seems like the court retained the possibility of revisiting the issue there after the election.

Things are different in every state. (See https://www.vote.org/absentee-ballot-deadlines/ for a table that shows the requirements by state.) Some have conditions set by the legislature, but others have had court rulings that extended the time to receive and count the ballots based on the peculiar situation in 2020. (My working definition of "peculiar situation": Due to COVID19 more people opted to vote absentee or by mail, further straining the already-stressed USPS, even before the apparent attempt by officials to delay delivery of ballots. By "apparent attempt" I mean systemic efforts like removing mail boxes and sorting equipment, not related to the dedication of individual employees.) Even today there is much discussion about whether ballots are lost in the mail system and, if so, how many. In states like NC, those ballots can still be counted if received within the established limits, but in others if they were not received by the day of the election, then they are wasted.

I guess the bottom line is I'm just one more person who doesn't know what will happen. I don't understand how the Supreme Court can change the rules after the game, but I suppose there is a historical precedent for that as well (remember hanging chads?) Regardless of how this election turns out, I'd like to see a law applied in a national election that sets the same standard for everyone. However, I think the likelihood of that happening is about the same as a national mask-wearing mandate being enforced. 

I have spent far too much time this morning thinking and researching an issue that is completely out of my control. I guess being my own boss has its privileges. 

BTW, if my absentee ballot is one of the ones they were counting as missing, they can forget about it. I requested an absentee ballot but shredded it and voted in early voting, which is permitted in NC. As long as you only vote one time, it is legal.

Graphic image: PRESENTERMEDIA.COM